The NFL referees are getting ridiculous at this point. While there have been many garbage calls throughout the short season so far, one in particular has players and fans freaking out. There are always issues with the refs in the league, as teams seemingly get favored over others. While the league would say that favoritism is absolutely not true, both fans and players are convinced that some teams get favored more than others.
Now, players are even voicing their issues with the way the refs favor certain teams, and fans are also getting a bit annoyed, to say the least, by the way the game is called.
New York Giants Star Calls Out Refs
A New York Giants receiver is now the latest player to point out that the league and the refs favor the Kansas City Chiefs, but he went a step further and also claimed the Dallas Cowboys benefit from favoritism as well.
Giants’ receiver Darius Slayton was flagged for 15 yards after he pointed his fingers in celebration of getting a first down in their recent game. This is one of the dumbest penalties in the sport, and it is truly subjective. We have seen tons of players do it, including many on the Chiefs with nothing called, while Slayton and many others around the league were penalized 15 yards for the first down signaling.
Slayton took to social media to point out how the Chiefs and Cowboys did not get flagged for doing the exact same thing multiple times:
“It’s cool when they do it,” Slayton claimed.
It’s cool when they do it https://t.co/dOX1kb0Qap
— Darius Slayton (@Young_Slay2) October 8, 2024
NFL Fans Are Getting Tired of the Refs in 2024
Both fans and other players have not enjoyed the way the league has been officiated this season, and it seemingly getting worse and worse every year. The league makes different rules for ‘player safety’ and yet we have the most injuries happening year by year. Now, these rules are ruining the game for some fans:
“15 yards for finger guns, what happened to the game I love,” a user said.
“People jus gotta accept the chiefs are the nfls replacement for the patriots,” a fan replied.
“The No Fun League strikes again,” another commented.
“The NFL is so often ridiculously inconsistent in how it applies the rules,” Big Blue View pointed out.
“Hope to GOD you don’t see a fine. You better make sure you appeal that [expletive] if you do,” a New Yorker laughed. “Just show em this tweet.”
Funny enough, even the Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce took issue with this penalty being called:
“If you want to fine the guy after the game for doing it, whatever. That’s up to the NFL for wanting to protect their league,” Kelce said. “But I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that a guy is on the ground shooting pointing fingers for getting a first down saying, ‘We’re going that way’ or whatever he might be doing — I just think it’s too much, man. It’s too much, and it’s affecting the game in the wrong way.”
Who is going to tell him that the Chiefs never got flagged for it, even though they did it multiple times in each game of this season?
Besides the favored Chiefs, five other players were fined this week for putting up their hands to celebrate a first down. The NFL is deteriorating before our eyes. With no players being able to play a full year it seems, almost every call is subjective, and with the bias that refs have from one team to the next, it’s hard to envision the league getting any better year by year.
It is going in the other direction, and fans are taking notice. At the end of the day, when the final games of the year have penalties in the fourth quarter on crucial plays, it is hard to watch what the product has become. We have gone from sport to entertainment in a matter of a decade.